NATIONWIDE — Today, criminal justice advocacy organization Worth Rises called on the National Basketball Association (NBA) Board of Governors to force the sale of the Detroit Pistons by owner Tom Gores unless he divests from one of the nation’s largest and most predatory prison telecom corporations, Securus.
In a full-page ad in the sports section of The New York Times this morning – addressed to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and team owners – Worth Rises asks: “If Black Lives Matter, what are you doing about Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores?” The call comes on the heels of Tom Gores’ forced resignation from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) board in October and days ahead of the NBA season opener on Tuesday, December 22nd. The ad also includes the URL www.pistonsdeservebetter.com, which points to a public petition echoing demands for a forced sale of the Detroit Pistons and removal of Tom Gores from the NBA Board of Governors.
“Tom Gores can’t hide anymore. Even after his dismissal from the LACMA board in October, he still has taken no meaningful step to stop preying on families with incarcerated loved ones and divest from Securus. We can’t afford to wait any longer,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director for Worth Rises. “This holiday season, families are already struggling more than ever because of the pandemic. Yet, as the owner of the NBA team hailing from the city with the highest concentration of Black folks in the nation, Tom continues to exploit, traumatize, and disrupt families with incarcerated loved ones, who are disproportionately Black and Brown. It’s unconscionable and the NBA must step in if it’s to truly embrace the racial justice mantras it promoted in the wake of the uprisings this spring and summer. It’s time for Tom to choose: sell Securus or sell the Pistons. He can’t continue to own both. The people of Detroit and NBA fans across the country deserve better.”
Today’s ad comes more than a week after Worth Rises sent a letter to the NBA Board of Governors calling for the forced sale of the Pistons in light of Gores’ investment with Securus, citing its commitment to racial justice and responsibility to ensure that the NBA remains a welcoming and safe space for all fans. The NBA responded to the letter by punting requests for dialogue to Gores’ firm, Platinum Equity, an avenue that had been exhausted over the past two years as was explained in the original letter.
Background: Tom Gores forcibly resigned from the LACMA Board of Trustees in early October, following weeks of pressure from artists and activists citing his role as a prison profiteer. Securus, owned by Tom Gores’ private equity firm Platinum Equity, rakes in more than $700 million annually charging families — disproportionately from Black, Brown, and economically distressed communities — for phone calls from prisons, jails, and immigrant detention centers. The corporation routinely charges as much as $15 for a simple 15-minute phone call, and piles on sky high deposit fees, among others. As a result of Securus’ predatory practices, which Tom Gores has authorized, one in three families goes into debt trying to stay connected to a loved one behind bars, and 87% of the people carrying that burden are women, largely women of color.
